Manufacture of bearing rings



Apr. 24, 1923.

C. F. SULTEMEYER MANUFACTURE OF BEARING RINGS Original Filed June 23,1919 Patented Apr. 24, 1923. p

NI'TED STATES 2 1,452,535 PATENT orrics.

onnnnns r7. .SULTEMEYER, or OAKPARK ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR To CHICAGO Manu-FACTURING AND DISTRIBUTING 00., A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS.

MANUFACTURE OF BEARING RINGS.

Original application filed June 23, 1919, Serial No. 306,058. IJividedand this application filed August 7,

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknownthat 1, CHARLES F.7SULTE- MEYER, av citizen of, the UnitedStates, and resident of Oak Park, county of Cook, and State of Illinois,have invented certain new 'rand-useful Improvements in the Manufactureof Bearing Rings, of which the following is a specification, and whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, ing a part thereof. 7 I vThe invention relates to the production of annular machine wearingpartssuch as the rings between-which the balls or rollers of antifrictionbearings are confined. The obform- ,ject of the invention is an improvedmethod of manufactureand a superior product, both of which are disclosedin my allowed application for patent on forging dies, Serial No. 306,058filed-June 23, 1919, now Patent No. 1,355,434, dated October 12, 1920,and of which this application is adivision.

Bearing rings of the type indicated are frequently required to resistwear and shocks under heavy loads. Those formed from high carbon steelor steel alloy hardened throughout by heat treatment, have accordinglybeen preferred. Owing to the difliculty of machining high carbon steelsand the waste of material resulting therefrom, the manufacture of thesebearing rings, whether cut from solid or tubular stock, has beenenormously expensive and the machined rings lack the required densitytopermit of their being successfully hardened to the most desirabledegree.

The present invention therefore conten1- plates forging the rings tosubstantially finished dimensions without waste ofmaterial and in amanner calculated to produce a density of material and freedom. fromstrains suitable for quenching without fracture. For, this purpose theforging dies 1920. Serial No. 401,987.

of bar stock with its end upset in the manner contemplated by thesaidstep of the improved method being shown, partly in sect1on;

Fig. 2 is similar to Fig. 1, but shows the parts of the forging dies ina different position and illustrates another step of the improvedmethod;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bearing ring formed by the improvedprocess, partly brokenaway, and i 1 i Fig 4 is a perspective viewshowing the upset end of the bar stock from which the bearing ringsareproduced. I, e

F or the purpose of illustrating the inven tion, the drawings showasimple form of roller bearing ring 10 having a smooth beveled interiorwearing surface 11 and a bulging exterior 12.. As the inventioncontemplates that. the ring 10 is to be hotforged to substantially itsfinished dimensions from high carbon steel or steel alloy, bar 'stock,as 13, preferably of .crome bearing steel containing between .90 and1.00percent carbon and between 1.25 and 1. 10 per cent chromium is desirablyemployed. Furthermore, the said rings 10 may be forged without waste ofmaterial, if the size of the bar stock 13 substantially conforms withthe smallest interior diameter of the rings. For producing rings ofmoderate .size, this will customarily be the original size of the barstock. while for producing rings of large size, it may, in some cases,be preferable to upset the end of a'smaller bar to a size correspondingwith the smallest interior diameter of the ring as a preliminary step tothe operation herein described. The simple form of ring 10 illustratedis readily 'forged to its said finished dimensions by first upsettingtheheated end of the bar stock 13 to form a cupped head 14 integral withthe bar. This head is-desirably somewhat longer than the width of thering and of less external diameter. The

head 14, while still at a temperature suit able for forging, is thenpunched centrally, (the part removed being of uniform size with andretained upon the end of the bar 13) expanded radially, andlongitudinally compressed to the shape and finished dimensions of thering 10. The said final longitudinal compression of the ring, followingradial expansion, has been found to be efi'ective in securing thedensity of material now believed to be essential to successful hardeningof the same by heat treatment.

Apparatus useful for performmg the forging operations may comprise thetwo punch heads 15, 16, and cooperating the sockets 17, 18, the diesockets 17, 18 being preferably formed in like companion die blocks,only one oi? which, as 19, is shown. The punch heads 15, 16 and dieblocks, as 19, will customarily be used in a forging press of well knownconstruction (notshown) but arranged", as usual, to effect powerfulsimultaneous movements of the punchlieads' 15, 16, into the die sockets17, 18, when the two die blocks, as 19, are closed upon th bar 13. Underthese circumstances, thebar 13 will be aligned with the die socle etsf17and 18 during alternate movements of the punch heads and one of thepunch heads is idle during, each of saidmovenients.

I As shown, the die blocks, as 19, are formed with grooves QOand 21,toreceive the bar stock, as 13, in alternation, the groove 20 being ofsuch size that the bar is firmly gripped between the die blocks duringthe engagement ott the upsetting punch head 15 with the end of the bar.The groove 21, on the other hand, is of larger sizeto permit of the bar13lieing moved longitudinally between the die blocks by the advancingpunch head 16. i ,To secure the required accuracy in the tormation ofthe bearing rings, as 10, some special provisionis desirably made forinsuring; ,egreat precision in the, alignment of th punch heads 15, 16,and die blocks 17, 1 8. For this purpose the punch heads and die blocks,as .19, may respectively be formed with closely fittingfcylindrical bodyportions 22, 23, and passages 2 1,25 of substantial length whereby thepunch heads are exactly centered they-enter the die sockets. VUpset-tingthe end of the bar stock, as in Fig. at, may be accomplishedby forming the punch head 15 with a blunt rounded end, as 26.

Similarly, the punch head 16 is preferably formed with a piercingprojection 27, a

tapering: intermediate portion 28 and a for-- wardly facing abutmentshoulder 29. The

bulging exterior 12 of the ring, the ring is effectively held in the diesocket 18 during withdrawal of the punch head 1'6and its removal is onlypermitted by separation of the two companion die blocks, as 19,

After forging, the ring lOwill-not usually require machine finishing butmay be ground to remove fins and the like. The ring is then hardenedthroughout by suitable heat treatment, preferably comprising quenchingin oil from a temperature above that of decalescen ce of the particularsteel or steel alloy of which it is composed. Grinding and polishing ofthe hardened ring,- principally confined to the wearing" surfacevll, weto complete the ring for use as a beating element.

The finished ring is distinguished from rings which have been machinedfrom-solid or tubular stock of similar analysisb'y being of increaseddensity and greater strength. Furthermore, by its uniform hardncssandtexture throughout, the ring "is markedly superior to bearing ringswhich Iiave"been produced from low carbon steel and hardened bycarboniaation at the surface'o'nl'y.

I claim as my invention:

The method of forging annular high carbon steel or steel alloy machinewearing parts to substantially finished dimensions which consists inupsetting the end of a solid bar of the selectedsteel, punching out thecentral portion of the' u'pset' entli of the bar while attached tothefbai', radially expanding the ring'thus left between pu'i'ich and diemembers substantially conforming in shape with the interior andeiteridrsurfaces of the part to be producedand then compressing the ring in the'directioii of its axis while held between the sai dpunch and themembers. 7

. CHAR-LES r. suLT'E-Mn YER;

